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Prepared for print by Faigy Peritzman

I like serving fillet of salmon on Shabbos day with a wedge of lemon for taste and presentation. Is it a problem to squeeze these lemon wedges onto the salmon before eating?

The halachah follows the opinion of most poskim who permit squeezing a lemon wedge onto salmon on Shabbos. In general, squeezing a lemon on Shabbos would be forbidden mid’Rabbanan because of the melachah of sechitah. But the halachah differentiates between squeezing a lemon into a liquid (e.g., tea, juice, soup), which is forbidden, and squeezing a lemon directly onto a solid food (e.g., fish, salad, guacamole) to improve its taste, which is permitted, as long as at least most of the juice is absorbed into the food.

We recently bought a new house from a non-Jew that has several fruit trees in the back yard. Are we required to begin waiting four years from our purchase until we can eat the fruit, or are the years of orlah counted from when the trees were planted?

The years of orlah are counted from when the trees were planted. If you’re unsure when the trees were planted and have no way of finding out, then if you live in Eretz Yisrael, you need to be stringent and wait until you know that four years have passed, but if you live outside of Eretz Yisrael, you may be lenient and eat the fruits immediately.

I’m trying to reach 100 brachos a day and thought to add to the list by smelling various fruits and herbs daily. How do I differentiate between the types of besamim to say the proper brachah on each item?

Recite borei isvei besamim over fragrant herbs, grasses, or flowers that grow directly from the ground. Recite borei atzei besamim over fragrant shrubs and trees or their flowers. Nowadays we don’t recite a brachah over fragrant edible fruits, since fruits are grown for their taste and not for their smell. On all other natural fragrances, or if you’re unable to determine if the herb grows directly from the ground or on a tree, recite borei minei besamim.

We have a beautiful public park in our city that boasts many fruit trees and flower beds. Are we allowed to pick the fruit or flowers from there, as it belongs to all residents of the city?

Ask the people who run your local parks department.